Fabrication of α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composites for cataluminescence sensing of H2S

alpha-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composites catalysts were prepared through a facile method of refluxing. Thermogravimetric analysis (TG), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were employed to characterize the as prepared alpha-Fe2O3/g-C3N4, which displayed distinguished cataluminescence (CTL) properties in the process of detecting H2S gas. When the alpha-Fe2O3 content in the composite reaches 5.97%, the most outstanding CTL responses are observed. Under the optimized conditions, the linear detection range of the H2S gas sensor was 0.887.01 mu g mL(-1) (r = 0.998) with the detection limit of 0.5 mu g mL(-1) (S/N = 3). Furthermore, the H2S gas sensor showed superior selectivity to H2S gas compared with other fourteen kinds of common volatile organic compounds (VOCs), as well as fast response (0.1 s) and recovery (0.6 s). These properties render alpha-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite promising candidate for applications in various fields. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.